There are two ways to look at Mike Brown's return to the Cavaliers.1. Assuming Phil Jackson is done coaching, Brown was the best candidate available. ESPN reported that Brown turned an offer from Phoenix, and several websites said Brown was on Philadelphia's short list of coaching candidates.2. This is yet another strange, crazy twist in Cleveland sports.The Cavs' new coach is the one Dan Gilbert fired three years ago in a failed attempt to convince LeBron James to stay. The Browns' new coach is their former offensive coordinator from the Derek Anderson, Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow Jr. days, and the Tribe's manager — Terry Francona — won a pair of World Series in Boston and, at 18 games, is the most-tenured coach of the three professional teams in town.Brown's hiring isn't as well-received as Francona's was, and it's even more curious than the Browns' coaching search — which went from a wacky pursuit of Chip Kelly to an offensive coordinator who was once replaced by Brian Daboll.When it comes to the Big Three pro teams in Cleveland, fans often aren't split down the middle on a coaching hire.They love it, or they hate it.With Brown, both emotions are very evident.I'm torn, too.I understand the rationale behind the move — the Cavs played no defense under Byron Scott — and I get that Brown probably has the best résumé of any of the candidates on the market.But it's difficult to get past the fact that he was just fired by Gilbert three years ago.What has changed since?Has Brown's ability to conduct an offense that features something other than a superstar dribbling for 18 seconds before driving to the basket or passing improved?Did he prove anything in his short tenure with the Lakers, other than L.A.'s roster is extremely flawed and Brown, unlike Phil Jackson, has zero titles to show for coaching two of the best players in NBA history?If you are a member of Team Brown, here is some ammunition:Take a look at the Cavaliers' rosters from the 2009-10 and 2008-09 seasons.Brown and James bore much of the blame for teams that won 66 (2008-09) and 61 games (2009-10) and failed to reach the NBA Finals. The 2009-10 team didn't even make it to the Eastern Conference finals and will be remembered for James' bizarre, often-disinterested showing against the Celtics that, combined with The Decision two months later, severely tarnished his reputation (one that has been mostly restored since).The top 10 players on the 2009-10 Cavs were James, Mo Williams, Shaquille O'Neal, Anderson Varejao, Antawn Jamison, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, J.J. Hickson, Delonte West, Anthony Parker and Boobie Gibson.

Since that time, Williams has had the most success other than James, averaging 14.0, 13.2 and 12.9 points per game the last three seasons, respectively. But he hasn't exactly been stellar, shooting 39.9, 42.6 and 43% from the field.

Hickson has been effective with Portland since he was dumped by Sacramento in 2012, averaging 15.1 points and 8.3 rebounds in 19 games with the Blazers in 2012 and 12.7 points and 10.4 boards in 2012-13.

Jamison was the Cavs' leading scorer in the two seasons that followed The Decision, and he is a reserve for the Lakers this year.

Shaq played 37 games in Boston the following season, 2010-11, then retired. That same season, Ilgauskas was a reserve in Miami, then called it a career.

Varejao has been effective when healthy, but he's managed to play only 31, 25 and 25 games the last three seasons.

Parker was mediocre in 2010-11 and '11-12 with the Cavs, averaging 10.3 points both seasons, and Gibson's effectiveness has plummeted the last three years — norms of 11.6, 7.5 and 5.4 points.

West has played all of 68 games since 2009-10.The 2008-09 Cavaliers featured James, Williams, West, Ilgauskas, Varejao and Gibson as the top six scorers.Also earning minutes that year were Wally Szczerbiak (it was his final season in the league), Joe Smith (he played 32 games combined the next two years, then retired), Sasha Pavlovic (he's averaged 3.7, 2.5, 2.7 and 2.6 points per game in the four seasons since) and Ben Wallace (who averaged 28.6, 22.9 and 15.8 minutes with Detroit in the three seasons that followed, then retired).Have you noticed a pattern?Maybe the Cavs were lucky to win a combined 127 games in those two regular seasons.As flawed as those rosters appear now, the franchise's mismanagement stands out even more when you consider that Hickson was traded for Omri Casspi, and Danny Green, who averaged 5.8 minutes in 20 games with the Cavs as a rookie in 2009-10, was let go and scooped up by San Antonio.Green started all 80 games for the Spurs this season. He averaged 10.0 points and shot 42.9% from 3-point range.This is a long-winded way of saying that Brown might have done a better job than many of us realized with those Cavs teams.Or, worse yet, James made the right move by leaving — even if he did so in the worst manner possible.Now, Brown is back, and hopefully he'll have a much more invested Kyrie Irving in 2013-14.Some believe James could eventually rejoin the Cavs, too, but that seems unlikely, considering the Heat's building of a possible dynasty.Regardless, Brown's hiring, though incredibly strange, is understandable.It won't matter, though, if the front office doesn't do a better job of surrounding the next superstar, Irving, with better talent than the group with which the previous superstar played.Browns lead the league — in cap space
The Browns and Bengals — who entered free agency with the best salary-cap situations in the NFL — have saved much of their space, according to CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora.The Browns enter tomorrow's first round of the draft with an NFL-best $33,461,310 in cap space. CBS' analysis counts the top 51 contracts on each team's roster.The Bengals are next with more than $28 million in cap room, followed by the Jaguars (almost $26 million) and Eagles ($23.1 million).The AFC North's heavyweights, Baltimore and Pittsburgh, have little room to maneuver. The Steelers, in fact, might have to restructure another contract or two to sign their draft picks.The Ravens have $4.3 million in cap space, and the Steelers have slightly less than $1.1 million.In the Browns' case, the cap room will come in handy if the team decides to sign center Alex Mack or safety T.J. Ward to long-term contracts. Both are entering the final years of their deals.You can follow me on Twitter for sports information, analysis and more memories from Delonte West's time with the Cavaliers.

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